You know you're a nurse when...

  So far in the past few weeks of my orientation as a nurse, I have found some common occurences pop up in my day that are interesting, unpredictable, or funny rather. Instead of "You know you're a redneck when..."  I will just call it my list of

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A NURSE WHEN....

  ~ Your patient calls you because they would like you to take a look at their poop, because it "just doesn't look right" (Today it was nasty snot ball I would have rather not laid my eyes OR hands on, but nursing duty calls!) 

~  You get excited and give a standing ovation when your patient poops - period.  Not to mention, you know the smells, looks, consistency of different diarrhea to identify it.
    
~ Along with nursing duties, comes tech support on any and every little piece of equipment, including fax machines, IV pumps, computers, and even label printers. I could go on!

 ~ You've been running around like crazy all day from room to room and realize that you haven't stopped to pee, even though your bladder feels like its going to burst!  

~  You finally sit down for lunch at 2:00, and inevitably your pager goes off because the patient in room 8 needs you and the IV pump in room 22 is beeping.

~  By the time you get home from work you have just enough time to eat dinner, shower, pack your lunch for the next day, and go to bed... just to do it all again the next day!

~ You have your phone set to military time and when your friend asks you what time it is, they look at you in confusion when you say "It's 1430"

~ When talking, atleast 2 or 3 of the words in your sentences are acronyms.

~ After changing a dressing on a nasty wound, you can go to lunch and talk about it without gagging or grossing anyone out. Gag reflex = nonexistent.

~ When your feet are screaming in pain!

~ Your mom texts you and says "I haven't talked to you for 5 days. Let me know you're alive when you have time!"

~ Your pockets are so full of random supplies, it takes 5 minutes just to dig around and  find what you need.

~ When walking to your car after work, you ravishly eat the leftover contents from your unfinished lunch.

~ You find yourself checking out random people's veins when waiting in line at the grocery store.


If anyone has any "You know you're a nurse when" additions, I would love to hear them!